Author: Michele Debczak

Barbie has sported some stunning looks since she debuted in 1959; over the years, she has worn outfits designed by such fashion heavyweights as Giorgio Armani, Vera Wang, and Oscar de la Renta. Now, Forbes reports, a new look designed by Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott has become Barbie’s most expensive set yet.

For $200, collectors can take home the Barbie-Ken package celebrating the Italian luxury label. The stylish duds are inspired by Scott’s own wardrobe at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. He arrived to the event wearing a television-inspired, Technicolor-striped suit, with black velvet clad Victoria’s Secret model Stella Maxwell as his date. When Scott was asked to design a pair of Moschino dolls for Barbie, he knew that those real-life ensembles would be a perfect fit.

As far as toys go, Barbie is a titan in the fashion industry. She has rocked a long list of high-fashion labels, and Barbie-inspired styles have even appeared on the runway during New York Fashion Week. Despite the doll line’s connection to the fashion world, this latest set marks a major first for Ken: The Moschino Ken is the first to wear an outfit tailored for him by a big-name designer. The historic dolls are now available for purchase through the Barbie Collection store.

[h/t Forbes]

December is here, and public spaces around the world are celebrating the season with festive trees of various styles and sizes. The tree currently on display outside Central Saint Martins’ Granary Square campus in Kings Cross, London may take the prize for most unique—not for its stature, but for its unusual presentation. As Dezeen reports, the tree appears to be frozen in a 23-foot-tall block of ice.

The installation is the work of Alex Chinneck, a British artist known for mixing optical illusions and architecture. His latest work is meant to be a holiday-themed version of a fly-in-an-ice-cube. The piece’s cheery nature is most apparent at night when the tree’s 1200 lights are illuminated from within its 2.2-ton package.

The exhibit will remain up until January 6, and there’s no chance of it melting between now and then. That’s because the block isn’t actually ice, but a massive chunk of resin. Even the “puddle” pooled around the bottom is made from 550 pounds of clear wax. But if Chinneck did decide to go the literal route it wouldn’t be the first time an artist left a giant ice block in a public space and called it art.

[h/t Dezeen]

Banner image: iStock

For decades, Nickelodeon has made the world a wackier, slimier place for millions of kid viewers. Now a handful of artists who grew up watching Nick’s programming have the chance to show off work inspired by the network. On Friday, December 9, the Mondo art gallery in Austin, Texas is kicking off their “Nick-Nick-Nick-Nick-N-Nick-Nick-Nick…Nickelodeon Show!”, showcasing pieces from eight artists.

The art on display will include prints paying tribute to The Ren & Stimpy Show, SpongeBob SquarePants, Rocko’s Modern Life, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters among others. Featured artist Dave Perillo told the gallery he’s “thrilled to be part of the Nickelodeon show with Mondo.” He continued:

“I grew up watching Nickelodeon when my family first got cable in the early ‘80s, with shows like Pinwheel and You Can’t Do That on Television. Always wanted to get slimed for saying ‘I don’t know?’ or food poisoning from Barth’s Burgery.”

Following the free Friday night opening reception from 7 to 10 p.m., the gallery will be hosting a Family Day on December 10 with face painting, a photo booth, and a slime building workshop from 10 a.m. to noon. Art lovers looking for a fresh take on childhood nostalgia can check out the exhibition before it closes on December 17.

[h/t Mondotees]

Research has already shown us that making art is a good stress reliever, even if your skill level is more kindergartener than Picasso. Now a new study from the University of Otago in New Zealand suggests that these mood-boosting effects can be gained from even the most straightforward crafts. As the Independent reports, knitting, baking, crocheting, and jam-making were all found to produce an “upward spiral” effect that carried over to the following day.

For the study, published last month in The Journal of Positive Psychology, researchers from the university’s department of psychology asked 658 students to record their daily experiences and emotional states in a diary for 13 days. Following the days when subjects took part in something creative, they reported feelings of positive personal growth that psychology defines as “flourishing.” In addition to crafts and cooking, researchers also cited painting, sketching, writing, musical performance, and digital design as some common creative activities students completed.

These results shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s experienced the zen-like effects of knitting a scarf or crocheting a blanket. According to the Craft Yarn Council, stress relief and creative fulfillment are the top two reasons knitters and crocheters give for partaking in the hobbies. Baking has also been touted as a form of therapy, with some mental health clinics using time in the kitchen as a treatment for depression. Another benefit of improving your mood through creativity is that the results of your labors can be shared with others—so if you’re still in need of gifts for the holidays, we suggest heading to the craft store and reaping some of the benefits yourself.

[h/t Independent]

The holiday season may be the best time of year to visit the Harry Potter universe. After all, what fan of the book series would turn down the chance to curl up with a warm glass of butterbeer, walk the Hogwarts grounds in the snow, or try on one of Mrs. Weasley’s homemade sweaters? One of the most magical holiday moments from the series is the Yule Ball, and now Barnes & Noble is planning to recreate that experience in the muggle world.

As Bustle reports, the Harry Potter Magical Holiday Ball will take place on the night of Friday, December 9 at Barnes & Nobles across the U.S. The bookstore chain promises an evening full of crafts, music, games, and “spellbinding surprises.”

At each location, guests will find a Harry Potter craft table where they can create ornaments and owl fans to take home. As the night goes on, there will be trivia, a word search, a coloring station, and wizard charades. Select Barnes & Nobles stores will offer special additional activities, including fortune telling, strolling carolers, and Harry Potter character look-alike showcases. Anyone who plans to show up can contact their nearest Barnes & Noble location to see what events they have planned.

If you missed out on the many magical Harry Potter events that took place around Halloween, this may be your last chance to celebrate the wonderful wizarding world before the year ends. The parties kick off on December 9 at 7 p.m. local time. Barnes & Noble is encouraging guests to dress up, so you should start assembling your version of Ron Weasley’s dress robes now.

[h/t Bustle]

Not everyone has the money—or the energy—to dress up and go out to enjoy a night of classical music at the symphony. If you want to listen to a live orchestra without changing out of your pajamas, just order a Groupmuse instead. As WIRED reports, the startup organizes 25- to 60-minute instrumental programs in your living room for a suggested price of $10 per spectator.

Founder Sam Bodkin was inspired to start the company after falling in love with classical music in college. He want to share the experience of listening to it live with people his own age, but realized that coercing them into a symphony hall for a performance would be an uphill battle.

So he decided to bring the music to them. Since it was founded in 2013, Groupmuse has given more than 1200 conservatory students and professional musicians the opportunity to play intimate concerts in someone’s home. Performers interested in signing up send samples of their work to Groupmuse for approval. If the company likes what they hear, they match the musicians with a place that hosts them (soloists play in spaces for 10 people, quartets for up to 50). The first of the two sessions always consists of classical music, and the second is player’s choice. Anything from Guns N’ Roses to Brazilian choro music could be on the set list.

Bodkin’s plan to turn younger audiences on to live orchestral music seems to be effective: Of the 20 Groupmuse concerts hosted across the country every week, 70 percent of attendants were born in the 1980s and ’90s. If you’re looking for some live entertainment to spice up your holiday party, you can sign up to host a performance here. Spectators who don’t mind leaving home to listen to music can RSVP to one of the Groupmuse concerts happening in their neighborhood (which for now, means Boston, New York City, Seattle, and California’s Bay Area.)

[h/t WIRED]

Google trends can tell us a lot, from the country’s top political concerns to the likelihood of traffic jams. They’re also a good indicator of what Americans have on their plate in any given season. What’s on the menu for December? Hot chocolate, peppermint, and tamales. According to The Rhythm of Food, a collaboration between Google News Lab and Truth & Beauty, searches for all three peak around this time of year.

As WIRED reports, the data visualization project consists of hundreds of infographics representing 12 years worth of food-related searches. The graphs below show how certain keywords rise to prominence during specific months. For instance, more people search for stew during the winter than the fall, and searches for gefilte fish see a sharp spike around Passover.

The website’s clock graphs chart the trajectory of food trends though the seasons as well as through the years, with each year represented by a different color. One chart shows that—surprise, surprise—pumpkin spice lattes trend around autumn, but it also illustrates that searches for the term have been cropping up earlier in recent years.

The Rhythm of Food project began by plotting data points linearly. This is a handy way to look at the rise and fall of shorter-lived food trends (kale, for example, has been declining in popularity since 2014, while searches for cauliflower are on the rise). But as their circular infographics show, breaking searches down by week can tell us even more, like that chia seeds are a hot post-New Year’s diet food and people are more likely to search for marshmallows around Thanksgiving than summertime because of its popularity as a sweet potato topper.

[h/t WIRED]

All images courtesy of the Google News Lab/Truth & Beauty.

Every city produces sewage, but now, Aarhus, Denmark is hoping to prove that their waste doesn’t have to be, well, wasted. As New Scientist reports, the Danish metropolis will become the first city to power its water system using energy harnessed from sewage and wastewater.

After undergoing a $3.2 million renovation, Aarhus’s Marselisborg Wastewater Treatment Plant is now capable of creating heat and electricity out of biogas. The waste is served up as a meal to bacteria kept in 100-degree “digesters,” or large tanks. Byproduct gases like methane are then burned, generating more than 150 percent of the electricity required to power the plant. Any surplus electricity is either used to supply fresh water to the city of 200,000, or is sold back to the grid.

The concept of using human waste as an energy resource isn’t a new one: Last year a study from the United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment, and Health reported that biogas produced by all the world’s human poop could provide energy to up to 138 million homes. Aarhus is the first city to integrate this innovative idea into their water system, and now cities like Chicago, San Francisco, and Copenhagen are interested in following suit.

For Aarhus’s success to be recreated elsewhere, water plants need to be big enough to produce large amounts of biogas and the wastewater they use has to be the right makeup (too much water dilutes the energy content). Cities also need to have the funding to make the necessary infrastructure upgrades. Aarhus Water’s investment in their plant was pricey, but savings in maintenance and electricity sold to the grid are expected to make it up in five years.

[h/t New Scientist]

If you don’t already have a cheese advent calendar on display in your home, might we suggest another dairy-centric way to celebrate the season: Building a savory gingerbread house with a hot glue gun filled with cheese.

This BuzzFeed-licensed cheese extruder, dubbed the “Fondoodler,” is simple to use. Start by loading it up with your favorite cheese (meltable products like American, Jack, and cheddar are all great options), then give it time to heat up. Pull the trigger to begin sketching the cheesy goo on the canvas of your choice. Fondoodler provides some appealing suggestions like nachos and fancy crackers. It can even be used to write messages, build tortilla bowls, and construct edible abodes. When you’re done, push the brush through the canister to ensure the tool is clean and ready to use at your next cheese party.

The first two batches of the product sold out quickly, but Fondoodler promises to have new orders shipped out by the first week in January at the latest. You can purchase a cheese gun of your own today for $25.

All images courtesy of Fondoodler.

Between nonstop workdays, poor health habits, and the blue-light effect, it’s no wonder that one in three American adults aren’t getting enough sleep. Anyone who’s experienced sleep deprivation knows how it can impact you on an individual basis, but new research shows that it has an effect on the U.S. economy as well. As Quartz reports, lack of sleep amounts to the loss of 1.2 million work days—or $411 billion—a year.

The research firm RAND put together their study on the economic costs of insufficient sleep [PDF] by comparing numbers from a UK workplace survey to a 2013 National Sleep Foundation study of the sleep habits in five countries. According to the paper, workers who slept less than six hours each night reported a 2.4 percent higher rate of productivity loss than those who got the full recommended sleep amount (seven to nine hours). Even employees getting six to seven hours, just below the healthy minimum, were 1.5 percent less productive.

Poor performance at work due to grogginess can result in a real loss for a company. As the report shows, that reduced productivity from the sleep-deprived worker adds up to six additional missing work days a year. All together, these fatigued employees take away 2.28 percent of the GDP from the economy.

RAND admits that employment at medium-to-large companies and the finance industry was over-represented among the 62,000 subjects in the report. But it’s not hard to see how an exhausted workforce could have a negative impact in other fields: Past research has shown that people who get insufficient sleep are more likely to catch colds, experience anxiety, and have trouble forming memories. Bad sleep habits can have long-term effects as well, such as increased risk for certain cancers and other health issues.

If a full night’s sleep isn’t already a priority in your life, it’s time to make it one. After settling into bed at a reasonable hour, encourage your body to fall asleep faster by dimming your devices at night and using a white noise machine to drown out disruptive sounds. If none of that seems to work, consider asking your doctor if a sleep disorder could be the cause of your restless nights.

[h/t Quartz]